2014-03-01

Blake couplet in Esperanto / Versoj de William Blake & Bob Dylan

I haven't had much time for Esperanto lately, but the notion of translating this couplet popped into my head:

How do you know but ev'ry Bird that cuts the airy way,
Is an immense world of delight, clos'd by your senses five?
      -- William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, Plate 7
My Esperanto translation:
Kiu scius, se ĉiu bird’ tranĉante ĉielvojon
ĝuas ene vastan mondon kiun via sensokvino kaŝas?
I did it!

In 1987, I used the coinage "ĉielvojo" to translate (on this blog) the ending of a Bob Dylan song:
 Ah, my friends from the prison, they ask unto me
“How good, how good does it feel to be free?”
And I answer them most mysteriously
“Are birds free from the chains of the skyway?”

       -- Bob Dylan, "Ballad in Plain D"
Me:
Amikoj ripetas en la karcer':
"Kiel bone, kiel bone ja sentus' liber'."
Sed mi respondas kun multa mister':
"Ĉu birdojn ne ĉenas ĉielvojo?"


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